Copacabana and Isla del Sol Tour from Puno: Bolivia in One Day
$195 Full Day
Overview
1 day
10:30 to about 5 PM, from Uyuni
3,650 m
The salt, flat to the horizon
10,582 km²
The largest salt flat on earth
$70
Per person, lunch and 4×4 in
One day on the largest salt flat on earth, from Uyuni town and back by dark.
The Salar de Uyuni is 10,582 square kilometres of salt. It is the bed of a lake that dried out ten thousand years ago. It is flat enough to calibrate satellites against. Standing on it, the horizon is a line with nothing behind it. This tour is the classic single day. The train cemetery, the salt village at Colchani, the cactus island in the middle of the white, and the open salt beyond it.
It starts at 10:30 in Uyuni, which suits the way most people arrive. The night bus from La Paz gets in early and the morning flight lands before ten. You are collected from your hotel or the terminal, and the 4×4 heads out of town with a bilingual guide. Lunch is on Incahuasi, the cactus island in the middle of the salt. You are back in Uyuni by about five in the afternoon. If you want the sunset on the salt as well, ask when you book and we will arrange a later return for an extra charge.
This tour begins in Uyuni, and Uyuni is not a day trip from Puno.
From Lake Titicaca it is a full day to La Paz through Copacabana and the Kasani border. Then a night bus or a short flight south. Two days of travel for one day on the salt, and worth it. Tell us where you are coming from and we will quote the whole connection. One booking rather than four. Our note on getting from Puno into Bolivia covers the border day. For the whole route from Peru, with times, seasons and costs, read our guide to the Uyuni salt flats from Peru.
Which Uyuni You Get Depends on the Month
People argue about the best season for the salt flats. There is no best. There are two different places.
Dry season
May to October
What you see
White salt in hexagons to every horizon, and a sky so clear the edges blur.
The photos
The perspective shots. A person on a dinosaur, a friend in a bottle. They only work on dry salt.
The catch
Cold. The afternoon wind comes off the salt and cuts through two fleeces.
Wet season
November to April
What you see
A sheet of water a few centimetres deep, and the sky reflected in it without a seam.
The photos
The mirror. The sky doubled, clouds underfoot, the pictures people cross the world for.
The catch
The road to Incahuasi can flood. When it does the day stays on the mirror, which nobody minds.
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One day sees the salt. It does not see the lagoons.
The red lagoon, the flamingos, the geysers and the green lagoon under Licancabur are two hundred kilometres further south. They need the three day crossing, with two nights in basic refuges. This day gives you the salt itself, which is why most people come. It puts you back in a bed in Uyuni. If the lagoons are the point of your trip, you need a separate three day tour from Uyuni, which we do not run.
The altitude deserves a plain word. The salt sits at 3,650 metres, a little lower than La Paz and Puno. If you have come from either, you will not notice it. If you have flown in from sea level that morning, you will. The day is easy enough to manage it. No climbing, plenty of sitting in the car, and the guide carrying water. The only real exertion is the walk to the top of Incahuasi, twenty minutes among the cacti, taken slowly.
Bolivia is the second half of a lake trip for most of our travellers. Not yet decided which side of Titicaca to see? Our post on Peru or Bolivia for Lake Titicaca is the honest version. Bolivia’s destinations puts the salt flats beside La Paz and the lake. Whether Bolivia is safe to travel answers the question people ask before booking. Coming from Cusco, the six day Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca package ends in Puno. That is the right side of the lake to start from.
Tour Highlights
- ✓ The Salar de Uyuni itself: 10,582 square kilometres of salt, the largest on earth. Driven across in a 4x4 with the horizon empty in every direction.
- ✓ Incahuasi, the cactus island in the middle of the white. A twenty minute walk to the top and a view that does not look like this planet.
- ✓ The open salt in the afternoon: the perspective photographs in the dry season, the mirror in the wet. Sunset on the salt can be added on request, for an extra charge.
- ✓ The train cemetery and the salt workers of Colchani. The day has a past and a present as well as a view.
- ✓ Lunch on Incahuasi, a bilingual guide and the 4x4, all in the 70 dollars. The Incahuasi entrance, 30 bolivianos, is paid at the island.
- ✓ A 10:30 start that fits the night bus from La Paz and the morning flight, and back in Uyuni by about five. You can arrive and go the same day.
What to Expect
Coming from Peru? This tour starts in Uyuni. If you are in Puno, our 3-day Uyuni salt flats tour from Puno includes the buses and the border crossing, so you do not have to get yourself to Uyuni first.
A single day, four stops, and back in Uyuni by five.
The 4x4 leaves Uyuni at half past ten. The first stop is on the edge of town. The train cemetery, a line of locomotives left to rust when the mines closed. Then Colchani, the village where the salt is dug, dried and bagged by hand. There is a workshop you can walk through.
After that the road stops being a road. The salt begins. The car drives on it for an hour with nothing to steer by but a cactus island on the horizon. That island is Incahuasi. Lunch is there, and a walk to the top among cacti twice your height, with white in every direction.
The afternoon is for the open salt: the perspective photographs in the dry season, the mirror in the wet. You are back in Uyuni by about five, salty, sunburnt and quiet. If you want to stay for the sunset, ask when you book and we arrange a later return for an extra charge.
Tour Itinerary
1
Pickup in Uyuni
Collected at 10:30 from your hotel in Uyuni. If you are arriving that morning, from the bus terminal or the airport. The 4x4 carries your day bag; leave the big case at your hotel. Uyuni sits at 3,650 metres and the day starts cold, even in summer.
Altitude 3,650 m
Time 10:30 AM
2
The train cemetery
3
Colchani and the salt workers
4
Onto the salt
5
Lunch and Incahuasi
6
The perspective photographs
7
Sunset, on request
8
Back to Uyuni
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Good to know
On the season
From May to October the salt is dry and white and the day is the one in the perspective photographs. From November to April it floods a few centimetres deep and becomes a mirror. In the wettest weeks the road to Incahuasi can be cut off, and the day stays on the mirror instead. We tell you before you book which Uyuni you are going to get.
✓
Inclusions
- ✓ Bilingual guide, Spanish and English, with the group all day
- ✓ 4x4 vehicle and driver for the whole loop
- ✓ Lunch on Incahuasi island
- ✓ Pickup and drop off in Uyuni: hotel, bus terminal or airport
X
Not Included
- X Getting to Uyuni. The bus or flight from La Paz, or the connection from Puno, quoted separately
- X Hotels in Uyuni before and after the tour
- X The Incahuasi island entrance, 30 bolivianos, paid at the island
- X Breakfast and dinner
- X Drinks other than the water in the car
- X Tips for the guide and driver
- X Travel insurance
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About the exclusions
On the price
The 70 dollars is for the day from Uyuni: the car, the driver, the guide and lunch. The Incahuasi entrance, 30 bolivianos, is paid at the island. It does not cover getting to Uyuni. For most of our travellers that means a day to La Paz and a night bus or flight south. We quote that connection with the tour if you want one booking. We say so plainly because more than one visitor has arrived expecting the salt to be a day from the lake.
Departure Information
Available: Daily departures
Group Size: Up to 6 people
Start Time: 10:30 AM
Pickup: Your hotel, the terminal or the airport in Uyuni
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the best time to visit the Uyuni salt flats?
There is no best, there are two. May to October is dry: hard white salt to the horizon and the perspective photographs. November to April is wet: a mirror of sky a few centimetres deep, with the clouds doubled underfoot. Both are the real thing. Choose the picture you want.
How high is Uyuni, and will I feel it?
How do I get to Uyuni from Peru?
Is one day enough for the salt flats?
What should I wear?
Is the tour suitable for children?
Are there toilets on the salt?
Can I fly a drone over the salt flats?
What vehicle is it, and how many people?
Does the tour see the mirror effect?
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